Ukuleles, Volumes, and Recorders

Ukuleles, Volumes, and Recorders:

A Workshop in Three Acts

Drue M. Bullington Orff Schulwerk Elemental Music and Movement Specialist [email protected] www.druebullington.com Greater Cincinnati Orff Schulwerk Association www.acemm.us February 9, 2019

Act 1: Ukulele

Ukulele Starter Kit: How to integrate the ukulele into the Orff Schulwerk classroom

How fast and easy is it for students to go from holding a ukulele for the first time to strumming chords and singing? How about playing melodies? Reading tablature? Improvising? Accompanying other instruments and singers?

Great questions! The Ukulele is able to be seamlessly integrated into your elementary, middle or high school classroom fitting hand in glove with the Orff Schulwerk Approach already at - - play there.

Everyone's happier with a uke in their hands!

The User-Friendly Ukulele

A Rationale for include the Ukulele into the General Music and Movement Classroom

The Ukulele is an accessible fretted string instrument. It is an appropriately-sized instrument for younger, smaller hands with less strength in their fingers for shaping chords. The ukulele has easily transferable skills to guitar or other fretted instruments. It meshes seamlessly with the current trends in mainstream music education approaches. It can be an accompaniment instrument on drone/pedal, shifting and functional harmonies of I, IV, V (and beyond). The ukulele is entirely capable of playing simple, complex, or highly chromatic melodies. It is portable and can be easily played on the move. The ukulele also provides a concrete aspect of elemental music and movement that students can take with them beyond the classroom and into young adulthood and further forward through the rest of their lives. Individuals are more likely to play a fretted instrument later in life than a hand drum, tubano, barred Orff instrument or a recorder. The ukulele has a presence in folk and contemporary performing culture. The instrument is highly affordable. This is a fractional investment when compared to the traditional band, orchestra or classroom instruments.

How to Get Ukuleles into Your Classroom

Our school was awarded two grants for the “Ukulele Project.” One through our school district’s Education Foundation, CVEF (Oddly, this grant isn’t listed on their website!) and a second grant through a great organization called, Music For Everyone. A classroom set of ukuleles is cheaper than one Bass Xylophone!

There are a lot of sources to help you write a grant that will get funded. Some pointers that work well are using action verbs in the what and how you’re going to do things, and then create an innovative project around your grant. With Project-Based and Passion-Based Learning initiatives starting to gain traction, these are perfect places to ground your project. Also, connect directly with a sales representative at the company from which you’d like to purchase items. Ask them to prepare a discounted “bid” or “quote” for you. It is almost always possible to receive a lower price which makes the grant money go farther. (Try several places as prices can vary dramatically.) Remember to include a 10% buffer amount for shipping and handling!

This package would be an excellent choice if ordered in bulk on bid from Austinbazaar.com. Approx $85.00 each on bid .

A half classroom set is probably not a bad way to begin. This way students can work in partners. (15) This will limit the amount of sound that the teacher has to try to channel and control, and gives the classroom a healthy dynamic of a player and an evaluator.

How to approach ukulele in the classroom?

Give students hands-on experience with Soprano Ukuleles. Over several classes and weeks and months, introduce concepts in small incremental sessions which will lead to long-term skill development. Build in improvisation on the instrument and with other instruments.

An adaptable process:

I. Introduce the Ukulele a. Parts of the Ukulele b. “Head and Tuners” Song

c. Rules about respecting the instrument- Clearly outline your expectations. d. Brief History of the Ukulele i. Originally from Portugal 1. Traveled to Hawaiian Islands via trade vessels- Original Portugese name: Machete da braça 2. Ukulele in Hawaiian means “Jumping flea.” e. Modern Examples of Ukulele i. Iz Kamakawiwo’ole, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” ii. Jake Shimabukuro, “Ukulele Gently Weeps” II. Strumming the Uke a. Loose right hand like a wet rag b. Up towards chin, down towards knee c. Connect with strings only on down. d. Use top of the fingernails to brush strings. e. Keep thumb relaxed and parallel with the fingers. III. C and C7 Chords rd a. Ring finger, 3 fret from nut on string closes to the floor i. Strum together. b. “Lime in the Coconut” Harry Nilsson. Play song, strum together (Chord never changes or the whole song). c. Pause. C7 chord is Pointer finger on the first fret of same string. d. Go back and forth between the two chords for practice.

e. Play the “Lime in the Coconut” again. Participants switch at their own speed and comfort level. Teacher circulates to help. IV. Hand Break a. Chord Charts

i. Fingers are numbered. ii. Discuss the frets being like walls, and the space between them like the floor of rooms. Fingers push the string to the floor, not down on the top of the walls. Best to aim for the middle of the room. V. Using the C chord as a drone. a. Perfect for Recorder or barred instrument Improvisation i. Echo ii. Question and answers iii. Melodic “free verse” iv. Structured melodic phrases and duets. v. Accompany movement is an option—WHILE MOVING!!!

You can substitute “New Year” or “School Year” or “New Class” etc. Very versatile. PDF of downloadable file.

This quick introduction to 4 levels of body percussion is a great place to begin with any or all of the Orff Schulwerk media.

Add a simple chord drone, and a C chord on the ukuleles and we’re off!

VI. Using the strum to teach meter a. Strong beats versus weak beats are easy to feel with a Ukulele. b. Simple duple, simple triple, and compound meters are easy to introduce with the Ukulele accompaniment patterns. VII. Understanding string numbers.

a. String closest to floor is #1: A, then #2: E, above it, then #3: C, above that, and at the top closest to the player’s chin is the #4: G string. VIII. Continue to F chord. a. Play C7 Chord. b. Stack the left ring finger on top of the pointer finger which is in the first fret on the A string. c. Move the pointer finger up one string to the E string still stacked. d. Reach the ring finger up to the G string towards your chin, and toward right shoulder moving it into the second fret “room.” e. Practice this several times

IX. Two-Chord Songs a. “He’s Got the Whole World”

b. Two groups, each one responsible for different chord. i. All sing and play assigned chords. ii. Trade iii. All play together all chords making the change. c. “Over My Head”

i. Play song with recording. ii. Try to listen for chord change with different verses iii. “Iko Iko” by the Belle Stars 1. Give background on the song; Creole, Mardi Gras, First Nations. 2. Play song. Make up new verses. ( ← Printable PDF) d. Hand Break: Changing chords, and resting the Ukulele on the palm/finger joint during the change. A “How To”

X. Irregular Meter: ⅞: Story of Samiotissa Samiotissa Score from Greece a. “Samiotissa,” Kalamatianos from Greece.

i. Each chord gets a Long, short short pattern. XI. How to read tablature a. Lines relate to the Uke i. Imagine the Uke is laying head to the left, and body to the right on top of a piece of paper ii. The strings are now transferred to the paper in this same order—A on top, E, C, G on the bottom. iii. Also, imagine a chord chart without the frets drawn on, rotated to the left 90 degrees and the strings are elongated. iv. Frets are numbered and used to denote where your finger goes to shorten the string to a certain length. v. When holding uke as you would to play it, roll it up so you can look at the frets. This is the same view as what is written on the tablature paper. vi. Read “Hot Cross Buns” from Tablature.

b. Read “Ode To Joy” from tablature with chords.

XII. The G Chord a. Begin with the C Chord b. Ring finger (RH) on the A string in the third fret “room” c. Then place the middle finger on the same string in the second fret “room” d. Place the pointer finger on the C string in the second fret “room” e. The shape should look like a triangle pointing toward the sound hole.

f. Practice strumming the G chord. g. Change from C to G chords. h. Play “Piko Piko” on C and G Chords.

XIII. Three-Chord Song a. This is the gateway to a multitude of songs in our folk and contemporary cultures. b. C, F, G or G7 c. The Lion Sleeps Tonight ← Chart. Video d. Play along with recording. e. “The Duck Song” and the up strum with thumb. XIV. Relax and warm down: a. Sing and play review songs: “Over My Head” XV. Check out Youtube and these Websites a. www.ukuchords.com for songs. It lets you transpose and print. b. www.ukeschool.com can be helpful at times as well. c. www.theukuleleway.com/boosteruke d. Ukulele Uprising - Lancaster, PA, community group, lots of great Ukulele Charts https://sites.google.com/site/ukeuplanc/ i. Also we have a Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/ukuleleuprising/

Notes and Ponderences:

Act II: “The Baker”

“The Baker,” Orff Schulwerk Music For Children, Volume I, M. Murray; Pg 18, #22.

Day 1: The “Meet-Cute” Setting up a relationship with new material! 1. I’m going to need some help in the bakery! I’m so glad you’re here! First we need a big bowl, and a big spoon and you’ll need to help me mix the batter, watch and copy me so our cookies will turn out perfect! 2. Simply sing the song for the children as they copy you stirring once around the bowl for each measure. Sway as you stir. 3. Switch sides and stir the other way. (Lick the spoon at the end!) 4. Walk around the bakery and stir. 5. Sit, listen, and find the rhyming words. 6. Go for a walk around the kitchen and change directions on the rhyming words! Make sure you give way to the other bakers so no one makes a mess! Teacher could accompany the song with a ukulele! 7. Put the batter in the fridge to rest.

Day 2: Deepening the understanding, keeping it light and fun. 1. Get out the batter, sing the song for the children, stir it once for each measure. 2. Read the words together, and then ask the children to sing the song. 3. If the children sing the song with success, ask them to help you find the rhyming words again. 4. Once the rhyming words are identified, explain that these come at the end of phrases, or the musical sentences. Immediately after the rhyming word is the beginning of a new phrase. The “down beat” of the first phrase begins on “Bak” of “The Baker.” (A reference here to beating and stirring an egg seems appropriate). Underline those three letters in the text visual (on the board or in a google slides, etc) and have the children help you identify the rest of the first “down beats”of the other phrases. “Ov,” “Buy,” “Buy,” “Big.” 5. Once they are underlined, your visual should look something like the visual below. Ask the students to sing the song, and play a bouncy patsch on the first “down beats” of each phrase where the green underlines are. The teacher could play an accompaniment on a Bass Xylophone to help ground this experience in the meter of 3 and provide a steady unifying pulse. 6. Next have them travel in pathways around the bakery, and change

directions on each of the down beats. To challenge them see if they can do this same activity without looking at the words on the board. The teacher continues to accompany the students on a BX, reinforcing the meter. 7. If they are successful at not looking and changing directions on the beginnings of each new phrase, they will be ready to graduate to a more challenging baker skill. Real wooden spoons!!!! Each child can get a real wooden spoon and play the “down beats” on a hand drum. (You must encourage them to be very, very gentle! The bakery will fire them if they are abusing the equipment!) a. You can tell pretty quickly if the group has developed an ensemble sense of pulse. If they haven’t, there is more work to do here. Limit other challenging aspects, i. shorten the time with the drums ii. Limit the locomotor activity to “in place” iii. Track the words, or “conduct” the words, from the visual. b. If they are successful, increase the challenge to stretch their internal sense of pulse. i. Ask students to join with a partner. ii. Increase the challenge, to only one drum and one spoon per group of partners. 1. One person creates movements with the drum, but has to provide the drum in a playable position on the beginnings of the phrases. 2. The person with the spoon is busy in the kitchen but must connect with the drum to play on the green lines 3. Switch jobs. Day 3: Reacquainting with and experiencing material in even deeper, more challenging new ways. 1. Bringing the students through a review of this process in your own way, arrive at a point where the students are with a partner playing the first “down beats” of each phrase on their partner’s drum. The teacher should accompany the students on the BX, keeping a simple chord drone accompaniment (C and G) as a reinforcement of the meter. 2. Putting their drums aside momentarily, next find the downbeats of each measure. These are like the first “down beat” of each phrase, but they create the main anchor beats through the whole phrase. We can find these by feeling the sway and keeping the pulse on our legs more steady. Have the students sit and help find these. Underline the rest of the phrase downbeats in a different color, like purple. Add an introduction here as well, and the final accent where we used to lick our spoons and taste test the batter, now we add a final downbeat on our “stop” sign. 3. To show the first downbeat of a phrase sounds a little stronger than the others, let’s keep that green one as a patsch, and make the purple ones into a spider finger clap. The introduction begins by watching the teacher more or less conduct the beginning with their mallets lifting to play the first measure of the introduction. The students should follow this, and stop together at the end of the song at the conclusion of the singing.

4. If they can do this successfully, then they are ready to add the drums back into the mix. Ask the students to experiment with ways in which to create lighter sounds for the purple lines, after they play the drum on the drum head with their spoons. This second sound is not allowed to be played on the head of the drum. Exploration will yield predictable and unpredictable results. Choose some examples to share, and then see if you can agree with the group on an idea that will work for the purpose of playing the purple lines. 5. Play and sing together, seated, or standing in place, the entire piece with the introduction on the side of the drum as a click sound, and the green lines as drum hits in on the head. a. If the students struggle here provide more time here for comfort and success to descend upon them. i. More practice with body percussion. ii. Separate out the demand: teacher does the green, and students do the purple. Then reverse the roles. iii. Create a patty-cake game out of the pattern (Patsch - pat pat) b. If they are successful give them reinforcement time to practice this skill with limited demand. i. Travel through space, changing places, returning to their original place. ii. Keep accompaniment going on BX Day 4: Transferring what we know 1. Begin the day with barred instruments in this arrangement: 2. Ask the students to play C and G in the steady beat while they sing the song from the visual from previous classes. Play all green and purple lines on the same bars and make the green ones normal weight, and the purple ones very light. 3. Assess here what students need. Are they successful? Do they need practice and reinforcement activities? What could these be? Day 5: Revisit, Relax, and Play! 1. Great British Baking Show Bakers Challenge: Create a choreographed baking process using the song as a guide with a partner using hand drums and spoons. a. Level I: You and your partner use travelling and in-place movements, play only your own drum. Your movements should say we are very busy in our musical bakery. b. Level II: Both partners stay in place, sometimes play on each other drums for the start of the phrase down beats. c. Level III: Both partners can travel, but plan times to pass or meet in the kitchen to play on each other’s drums on the start of phrase down beats. 2. Partner - Partners. a. Two partners play a barred instruments for a second set of partners who perform their choreography. b. Switch!

Day 6: Deepen the Commitment

1. Ask the students to sing the song while you show them a clapping game pattern. 2. Ask the students to copy the clapping game with you. 3. Allow the students time to explore this game in partners, adding fun twists and turns, jumps, etc., the only rule is that they can’t change any of the body percussion. 4. Next, ask the students to sit facing you and keep the down beats just in a gentle clap with both hands. 5. Tell the students there are 4 patterns, and three of them are the same. Pointing to your fingers to show which pattern you are singing, ask them to only listen and analyze which is the different pattern. They will come up with the idea that the third pattern is different. This is a visual representation of what we know so far about this melody, the way the notes go high and love in our voice. a. Blue notes on the second line = clap. b. There are four parts of this melody, three are the same. c. There are two different kinds of patterns an “a” pattern and a “b” pattern. d. There are start repeat signs and end repeat signs. 6. Have the students sing a “G” for each of the blue notes but keep the meter of three going and they think the other notes in their head. 7. Model the entire melody for the students on the body scale for the first part of the song while they sing the words.

a. Place both of your hands forward like you were going to do the clapping game for all notes that are “A” b. Gentle clap for all notes that are G c. On your legs as a patsch for all notes that are E. d. *Model this for the students, while they sing, they copy you. 8. Show this visual. Ask the students what color note do they think should go first right before the blue note. They should say yellow. a. Add the yellow note to the second space. 9. What note should follow the first blue note- refer to the body scale model they sang and moved. They should say red. a. Add the red notes to to the bottom line. 10. Using the pattern ideas that the first three are the same, and the final pattern is different, they students can now tell you what the next notes should be and you’ll end up with this image: 11. Students will quickly figure out that the last pattern only needs the yellow note in the second space. This is the final image of the day. 12. Ask students to perform the clapping game with all of the “both” being sung as A, all of the “claps” sung as G, and all of the “patsches” sung as E. Sing absolute pitch. 13. Next, share this visual of the instrument and have the students sing the song in absolute pitch, do the clapping game, but look at the colored notes while the do this. 14. Move to instruments and play the song’s melody. 15. Half of the class can divide into drone players on C and G, and half can play this new melody. 16. Some partners could play their clapping games at the same time. 17. Let the students play the entire second part of the song on any notes they want.

● Polyspots are a beautiful way to map these relationship in real space for the students.

Day 7: Complete the melody circle 1. This is a pretty fast lesson. Begin with showing students this visual: a. Discuss all that we know, and what could we add to complete the melody visually. 2. Review on the instruments the top phrase’s melody. 3. Play the bottom phrase melody, and see if students can figure out what notes should be used for the rhyming words if all of the other notes are a G. 4. The suggestions will come in, and you will arrive at high C’ and low C, hopefully! 5. The visual looks like this: 6. Give the students time to practice this melody. 7. In divided class, or in partners, have half the class (or one partner) play the melody while the other half ( or the other partner) plays the drone accompaniment on C and G. (Only on down beats, perhaps).

Day 8: An unexpected development at the Bakery! 1. Our bakery must have a meeting! We need your help to create 4 packs of baked goods today! a. There are these kinds of bakery items. i. chocolate chip ii. oatmeal iii. Fudge. b. Each pack contains 4 items. i. All the same, ii. Variety packs 1. contain all cookies, with a double of one kind. 2. Two of each cookie. 2. Model these variety packs of cookies and have students speak them, clap and say them, do two, then three layers of body percussion and say them. 3. With the students create variety packs of cookies where the if there is a cookie that is doubled it has to be always start the pattern. (If two cookes double, you can start with either one) 4. Create variety packs of speech and body percussion with a partner. Repeat each pattern.

5. Using the hand drums and spoons, create new cookie compositions! 6. Write these out on sentence strips to save them.

Day 9: Go all in! 1. Use the ideas from all the previous lessons and create something with the students. a. Hand Drums and Spoons from the Bakery Challenge b. Clapping Game Ideas c. Melody and Chord Drones on instruments d. Cookie Compositions 2. Create a Bakery Rondo!

Act III: Recorder Is Fun

Another Meet-Cute!

“Head Joint, Body, Foot Joint, Bell”

Parts of the Recorder, “Head Joint, Body, Foot Joint, Bell” Song (To tune of “Head and Shoulders.”)

Left Hand Game

Mix hands up behind back, then pick up recorder with left hand, repeat several times. I always improvise a scat-like elevator tune on Doo while I mix the hands up with the kids. Left hand on the Head Joint, right hand on the foot joint.

Painter’s Tape

Try taping the recorders top three holes on the front and the thumb hole. Color in the finger holes.

This is the solution I’ve had to helping kids have a successful first experience with the recorder. Their left hand goes on the tape, and their right hand holds the bell. It was originally revealed to me as an option by Alan Purdum as an option. I developed some successful approaches to implementing the idea.

Recorder Rules

These are the basic rules that are used with my students in their first experiences with the instrument. I use these as guides for students to do self and peer technique assessments.

Posture: “Fix Me” Game

Teacher sits incorrectly with bad posture, hands in wrong places, poor embouchure, etc. And students discuss and describe how to improve upon what they are observing. The guidelines at the right are used to inform their discussions.

Articulation/Tonguing- Dooglish

The following is the story I use to fantasize and romanticize the ideas of breath control and articulation. The playfulness of this experience is a big help in keeping kids interested during the practice phase of technique development.

Doozie and the Kingdom of Doo

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful kingdom called the Kingdom of Doo. It was ruled by the kind and jolly King of Doo. He encouraged music and dancing and having fun, especially the speaking of the kingdom’s unique language called Dooglish.

Would you like to learn how to speak Dooglish? It’s very simple actually! The whole language is only just one word! Guess what it is: “Doo!”

Guide students through conversations in Dooglish. Question and answer form works great!

One cold rainy day, there was a hostile takeover of the Kingdom of Doo by the silent and grumpy King of Whisperton. The new king has outlawed Dooglish! And all fun for that matter! Anyone caught speaking Dooglish in their voice could be thrown in the dungeons!

All communication in Dooglish now must be done in quiet whispers to avoid being jailed!

Guide Students through whispered conversations in Dooglish.

Then the very famous artist from the Kingdom of Doo came up with an idea—his name is Doozie!!! He invented the translator that paints the air with sound with his magical woodwind brush—the Recorder!!! The recorder translates the whispered Dooglish into beautiful music!

Articulation and Breath Control Tips

Slow warm air, like the air that flickers, but doesn’t blow out candles on a birthday cake. Keep the air flowing like a ribbon of air, or like water in a garden hose. The water is always flowing, and you can take your hand and stop the water, but the water still wants to flow through the end of the hose. The air should not stop at the spigot, but the spigot is always on, and the tongue interrupts the flow when it says “Doo.”

Painter’s Tape and the Right Hand

Having the painters tape guarantees that the group will have a nice solid G, more or less in tune in the middle range of the instruments without adding any demand for covering finger holes. This frees the young learners up to focus on playing as a group with good articulation and clear tone while still being able to make music. The teacher can accompany any speech/poems, or rhythmic articulation practice with a drone on C and G or G and D. There are a myriad of games and activities that can be played with these options. It also provides low-risk assessment opportunities for left hand placement, posture, and developing good airstream sensibilities.

Pinky Promise Scissors (Right Hand)

To play E, add the first two fingers on the right hand and over the first two holes under the blue tape. Use slow warm air that fogs a mirror, and think the air going straight down to the floor and making a puddle. Imagine the air is slow like honey.

Cuckoo in the Clock

Here is a game song that yields a lot of possibilities. It is transposable, so in younger grades I tend to sing it in D pentatonic. When I introduce the game to first graders this is how I do it:

1. Romanticize the cuckoo clock. I talk about being a little boy and how my Grandfather had an old

cuckoo clock in his office that every now and then he’d let me help wind the weights on it, and then while he worked, I would play and be thrilled to hear the little bird come out and go “Cuckoo!” Then we listen to the actual songs of the cuckoo bird recorded live in Germany where the clock was made. And then we listen to some cuckoo clocks that I find on youtube.

2. The students become the cuckoo birds. This can take on a life of its own. I’ve had them spend extended periods of time exploring the idea of the clock and the cuckoo bird. In small groups sometimes two make the case and door of the clock and another the cuckoo who opens the door and cuckoos away, and other times they individually fly all over the room at different auditory cues, and then in partners they have question and answer cuckoos. We could create a long list of ways to play with the idea of cuckoo birds. I encourage you to create one of your own!

3. The students become the clock face. In a circle, with cards numbered 1 – 12, I create a clock face on the floor. Inside the circle, I become the hour hand of the clock. Walking clockwise, I ask the students to tell me what time it is depending on which number I am pointing to. They will say the number and then “o’clock.” Then I ask them to be the cuckoo in the clock and tell me by doing the number of cuckoos that the hour hand says it is. When this works, we can make learn the song.

4. The students sing the “Cuckoo in the Clock” song. As I walk around the inside of the circle going clockwise and holding a woodblock as a clock hand pointing at the numbers, I sing the song.

On the solo part, I play the woodblock. Invariably, they will clap and echo me. If not, simply ask them to. Then whatever number you are pointing to, the “leader” does the cuckoo singing that many times. Then the whole class echoes. I do it a number of time before I ask a kid to try.

5. Counterclockwise! The students now move around the outside of the circle in a counter-clockwise direction, while the clock hand moves in a clockwise direction. When the woodblock plays, everyone stops and echo claps. Then the leader does the cuckoos and the class echo sings.

6. Student leaders Ask a student that the “hour hand landed on” to switch places with you, and tell the kids you are going to turn the challenge meter up a notch. The student holds the woodblock, points at you and plays the rhythm- then the class claps, and you, the teacher, now on the outside of the circle sing the cuckoos for however many you happen to be standing nearest—maybe 3-6-9- whatever. Then the class echoes. Play the game again, and the child in the middle does the clock hand movement, everyone else, gets to play the outside traveling and singing. When the woodblock plays, a new child will be chosen to sing the cuckoo song, and the class will echo. The new singer* can earn a turn to play the woodblock if they choose to share a cuckoo song. If they decide not to share a song, then the game will go again until a cuckoo song is shared. (*This is usually a non-issue but a tactic to create an reward situation.)

7. Add a gong! This sweetens the pot a little bit for the uncertain singers to try to share a song. The gong simply plays the steady beat, just like a cuckoo clock does in a real clock on the echo when the whole class sings together. So the process is, from the outside circle, to

the hour hands/woodblock, then to the gong and then to the outside again. In order to show that they haven’t yet had a turn in the middle, I ask the students to show a hand puppet with an open beak, and if they have had a turn, to show a hand puppet with a closed beak. Then if the hands land on someone who has had a turn, the clockwise motion continues until it lands on someone with a turn.

8. Assessment cache! Once the game is certain, I sneak away and play a bass xylophone. I keep my clipboard next to the bass xylophone and keep track of who has taken a turn, and sang in their head voice by themselves. Later in the year, I might make some rules about “matching voices” that students can only earn a turn in the middle if they use a matching voice, which is indicated by the matching magic wand. I could also have a drone assessment if I ask a student to play a drone in the middle of the game circle. I also can assess individual steady beat if I add a temple block part and ask a student to keep the “tick tock” of the clock while we sing the song. You could potentially have all of these assessments going on at once-

Individual singing-solo/matching, Woodblock-individual rhythmic accuracy, Alto xylophone- chord drone on steady beat. Temple blocks- steady beat- broken drone readiness. Gong- unilateral steady beat.

The kids will play this game for a whole class period if you let them. They really love it.

9. Recorders in later grades we can replace the singing with recorders and have the students play the G and E melody (Later on A and C), while walking the steady beat, and then play solo recorder “cuckoo songs” for what hour it is, and the class echoes. Including all the other instruments for assessment again in later grades and a recorder assessment you can get a lot of mileage out of 6 measures of music, and you could even add more if you like. I add a rd contra bass bar player by themselves and give everyone a chance at playing that in 3 grade with the recorders.

Baker Song

The baker song from earlier in the workshop will work beautifully as a ¾ opportunity for students with the G and E and the introduction of the the note A. Peel off the bottom bit of tape, place it on the bell as a sign of progress! Practice going between G and A by adding and taking away the last finger on the left hand.

Try playing the Baker’s Song by staring on the A, adding the third finger, and then the scissors. Simply sing the last phrase.

It is also possible to extend this learning with the use of the cookie variety packs. Students could arrange the cards on two strips of yarn on the floor in a line, above

the top line = A, on the second line = G, and on the bottom line = E. Students are now creating melodies for their variety packs!

Sei, Sei, Sei - Playing “E”

1. Discuss the game of “Rock, Paper, Scissors” 2. Students play the game, best of three with a partner. 3. Discuss the international game- What would be different in another country? 4. Introduction and singing of “Sei, Sei, Sei”Where does the hand sign go? 5. Learn the song. 6. Sing the song and play with hand signs of rock, paper or scissors, best of three. 7. Play G on recorder and add “scissor” fingers for E, 8. Echo play a number of patterns using E, including some from the song. 9. Echo play the melody of the song in phrases. 10. Create a Visual for the song leaving the ending note somewhat unclear. 11. Play whole song, Ending on E 12. End on A, then G a. A beats G, G Beats E, E, Beats A b. Play game with a partner best of three. 13. Add news paper element for a twist of fun and excitement. a. Two players, each get a full sheet of newspaper to stand on. When one loses, they fold their paper in half. b. The game continues multiple times, each time a player loses, they must fold their paper in half. c. They must concede defeat when they can no longer stand with their feet/foot only touching the paper. d. They then must follow the victor and cheer for them to win as they challenge another player/team

Who Has Seen the Wind?

This activity is all an adaptation of a work by an American poet named Christina Rosetti. Please look into her work, she was an outstanding model of 19th century poetry. In this activity we use the second stanza (with slight adaptation) of her poem, “Who Has Seen the Wind.”

1. Beginning in a standing circle. 2. Discuss the power of the wind, what names for the movement of air can you think of? Some are strong, gentle, intermittent, directional, etc. 3. Structure some improvisatory movement as the wind based on labeled vocabulary they have discovered for several volunteers. The other students should follow the prop with their eyes, finger and voice on an “ooh.” a. The teacher could improvise on a suspended cymbal in response to the mover. b. Once the mover has completed their turn as mover, they can take that role over as cymbal player. 4. Add one large scarf or some other flowing object by placing it on the floor in the middle of the circle. (I have been tempted to use a large garbage bag, but haven’t yet.) 5. Have the group consider what would happen to the thing in the middle if it was acted upon by the wind. How would it move? a. Ask student volunteers to be the wind who acts upon the scarf. As the students to move their bodies like the scarf. b. Teacher can play wind chimes in an unmetered, improvisatory way in response to the mover. This can then be handed off to student volunteers who have been willing to move with the scarf. 6. Add a second colored scarf or prop. Create small groups of two or three students. One student follows one scarf/prop, while the rest follow the other scarf/prop. a. Main movers can travel through space, all other partner groups must stay in place. b. Add the Cymbal and the wind chimes. 7. Main wind-movers are asked to stay connected in some way to one another, perhaps most easily by their hands or with a stretchy band. a. In the smaller groups, one partner follows one scarf, the other partner follows the other scarf, but partners are connected in the same way the main movers are connected. (could use a stretchy band here) 8. In the poem, there is a ? and an . and then a unifying statement. a. Create movement questions and answers - i. Partner 1 moves during the question = Cymbal sound played by teacher. ii. Partner 2 moves during the answer = Wind chimes played by teacher. iii. Connect on the unifying statement and move together in a spontaneous way -- both instruments played together by the teacher. b. Substitute the instruments for the text of the poem spoken by the teacher. i. Text spoken -students in stillness; Students move with the echo of the poem in their imagination. ii. Still ? . and Unifying statement movements as before. c. Students speak the text of the poem while they move. d. Insist on a still beginning and ending.

9. Maintaining an air of mystery about the poem, have the class read the poem over a drone played on a bass xylophone set up in La pentatonic on E. 10. Once they have a feel of the meter, as them to perform their movements with the drone accompaniment. 11. Once this is accomplished, give the students a chance to read the poem from a visual like the one below with mystery!

12. Have the students speak this text in “Dooglish” or “on dooh.” 13. Then have them speak the text in whispered dooglish. 14. Next play the text on “G” on their recorders. 15. Play the whole thing next on “E” 16. Then play the whole thing starting and ending on “E,” but allowing the students to play “G” or “E” as they wish. 17. Next, add the “A” but still start on “E” and play “G” as well. 18. Next add the “B” and recommend that the “A” is like a wobbly rock in the middle of a stream they are crossing between “G and B”. They can pass over that note, but they should never stand on it as it isn’t as sturdy as the “G, B, or E.” 19. Show the students a visual like the one below.

20. The first two question phrases start on “E” and go up, the third phrase starts on “B” with some repeated notes, and the final phrase must approach the “E” from above. 21. Using sentence strips which are folded into four equal sections, have students follow this procedure in their small groups: a. Fold the sentence strips in half lengthwise. b. Fold them in half again lengthwise. This will give four equal rectangles. These equal the beats for each phrase. 22. For each phrase a. Turn the sentence strips to the side with only one line. b. Write the words in each rectangle as they relate to the beat. The visual on the board is their guide. They should just copy this as best they can. c. Write the starting note E on the first two phrases with the up arrow. d. Add the B to the start of the third phrase and the E to the end of the 4th phrase. 23. In their small groups, improvise melodies for each phrase that are a. Easy to play b. Easy to remember c. Easy to teach. d. Make a sensible flow when they are played one after the other. 24. Confer and compromise within the group, and write down the letters under the words when an agreement has been reached. 25. Practice this composition and share these with the class. 26. Add chord and broken drones on barred instruments. Low E and B are the drone notes. 27. It is also fun to add color parts in relation to the text. Single out important words like “Wind” or the movement/verb words. Have students add instruments like ocean drums, rainsticks, wind chimes, etc. to these parts to create a pleasing arrangement. 28. Have the students create a way to share their ideas. a. All could play together, and then all could share their movement. b. One group could play while another shares the movement. c. Groups could partner with other groups and teach each other’s compositions so they can play these for each other while they move to the music they created. d. The teacher could decide and give signals for everyone to play, just this group play and that group move, and it would be unpredictable. e. A myriad of options could be successful in how to share these compositions.

Program

9:00 - 10:20 ACT I User-Friendly Ukulele

10:20-10:35 Interlude

10:35 - 12:20 ACT II “The Baker,” From Volume I

12:20-12:30 Interlude

12:30-1:45 ACT III Recorder is Fun!

1:45 p.m. Curtain!

Notes and Ponderences:

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